House of prefabricated room units



Nov. 2l, 1944.A E. w. PENTQN PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Filed Dec.- i6,1941 2 Sheets-Shut 1 im E'. Wfenimz w/mM-/,/

Nov. 21, 1944. E. w. PENTON HOUSE OF PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Filed Dec.16, 1941 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ...,WNNHHHW@ .Mw i l l H l,

' zi Wfmzan Patented Nov. 21, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICE2,363,259 y HOUSE 0F PREFABRICATED ROOM UNITS Edgar W. Penton,Miilllnburg, Pa.

Application Decemberl, 1941, Serial No. 423,209

2 Claims.

This invention relates to houses built from substantially identicalprefabricated room units.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide in a house of the typedescribed,plefabri cated room units with vertical side walls adapted tobe brought together with a side wall of each in juxtaposition, and inwhich one or both of the side walls of each unit are internally framedto define a plurality of potential rectangular door openings, any one ofwhich, in each unit may be made accessible as a door opening by theomission or removal of wall panelling from the selected area, and thedoor openings of the juxtaposed side walls, so selected and formed,brought into registry to give the units the rela-` tionship ofcommunicating rooms, the selectivity in the location of the dooropenings giving a wide range of relative longitudinal positions of theunits so that with respect tc a group of houses assembled from identicalroom units, a number of architectural variations are possible bothinside and out, relieving the group from the objection of monotonousidentity, urged against prefabricated houses generally.

Another object of the invention is to provide a house of. prefabricatedroom units of the type described, in which the juxtaposed room units areunited by a boxing embracing the contigucus edges of the registeringdoorways.

A further object of the invention is to provide in combination withcooperating juxtaposed room units of the type described, a weathercanopy adapted to overlie more or less of the line of juncture betweenthe contiguous side wallsof adjacent units, and particularly theregistering doorways, said canopy being maintained in position by a webwhich seats in the crack between the substantially contiguous sidewalls.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a prefabricated roomunit of the type described, of relatively elongated and narrowdimensions, characterized by the avoidance'of a parallelepipedal shape,which shape would require diagonal bracing both at the sides and ends tosecure rigidity, particularly in a light weight construction, and whichdiagonal bracing at least in the side walls, would obstruct some of thepotential doorway forming spaces. 'Ihis object is accomplished byproviding a roof and end assembly substantially in the form of an arch,rigid in a transverse direction, the sloping ends of which rigidify theshape of the room unit enclosure, both longitudinally as well as in atransverse direction.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a prefabricatedroom unit of light weight, but gaining its rigidity through theemployment of monocoque construction, by which is meant that the inneror outer wall skins, themselves rigid in the planes of their surfaces,are both or either of them integrated with the framing throughout theircontacting interfaces as by gluing, whereby the framing and the wallskin mutually reinforce and impart rigidity one to the other.

Other objects of the invention will appear as the following descriptionof a preferred and practical embodiment thereof proceeds.

In the drawings which accompany and form a part of the followingspecification, and throughout the several figures of which the samecharacters of reference have been employed to designate identical parts:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a house assembled from three of theprefabricated room units embodying the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section through one of theprefabricated room units, an adjacent unit being indicated in brokenlines;

Figure 3 is a horizontal section taken along the line 3--3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4' is a cross-section taken along the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a diagrammatic view showing in perspective three of what maybe termedbasic arrangements of theprefabricated room units.

Figure 6 is a cross-section showing a modified form of wall structure inwhich monocoque constructionis obtained by integrally molding the wallskin and the framing;

Figure 7 is a similar view through a further modified form of vwallstructure, in which the ribs are integrally pressed in the wall skin.

Referring now in detail to the several gures, the numeral I represents aprefabricated room unit comprising the floor frame assembly 2, `on whichis mounted the opposite vertical side walls 3 and 4, and a continuousroof and end wall assembly 5, joining the side walls at their top andends. The flooring 8 is supported upon the lioor .frame assembly 2.-

gluing. The skin thus made integral with the framing, may be of plywoodor other sheet material inherently rigid in the` plane of its surface.Thus, a monocoque construction is produced in which the skin and framingmutually reinforce `one another.

The framing or ribs within the side walls comprise vertical studdingmembers II which are so relatively spaced as to form a plurality ofareas I2 of equal width, such width being that of the desired doorway.The studding members II cooperate with horizontal struts I3 and Il atthe top and bottom, said struts deiining the top and bottom of thedoorway areas.

Any one of the spaces I2 may be regarded as a potential door opening,although concealed between the inner and outer wall skins 9 and III, andany one of said areas may be selectively formed into a doorway bycutting away the inner and outer wall skins 9 and I0 in areas congruentwith the selected area, or by omitting the wall skins from the selectedarea if the selection be made before the prefabricated unit leaves thefactory.

In Figures 2 and 3, five potential doorway areas I2 on each side areindicated, one of which has been opened to form the doorway I5.

Figure 2 shows that the framing includes the V horizontal members I6 andI1 arranged between adjacent studding members II, and forming therewithpotential window areas, any of which may be opened by cutting away oromitting the wall skins 9 and III congruent with the selected one ofsaid potential window openings. In the selected doorway areas thehorizontal members I6 and Il are taken out.

It is contemplated that a plurality of the units I shall be arranged injuxtaposition with portions at least of their adjacent sides insubstantial contiguity, as shown in Figure 3, to bring the selecteddoorways into registry as shown. The fact that any of the spaces I2 inthe adjacent sides of each of the contiguous units may be made into adoorway, aords a large number of relative positions of longitudinaldisplacement. This enables a number of variations in the architecture ofthe assembled house to be made, both inside and outside, so that in agroup of houses made from the same number of assembled room units, notwo need be exactly alike, thus avoiding the objectionably monotonousidentity which usually characterizes a group of prefabricated houses.

Any number of the prefabricated room units may be employed in theassembling of the house.

Figure 1 shows three such units, two being arranged symmetrically withrespect to one side 4wall of a third. Figure 5 shows three other basicarrangements.

It is to be understood that variations in the relative positioning ofthe units in these illustrative arrangements or in any others which maybe employed, utilizing a smaller or greater number of units than arehere shown, may be made by selecting different potential doorway areas,as has been explained, and thus shifting the units longitudinallyrelative to one another.

Inasmuch as it is contemplated that the prefabricated room units, in theinterest of trans- `portability, shall be made of light weight material,especially with respect to the framing and the wall skins, the problemarises as to obtaining the requisite shape maintaining rigidly of theunit. A parallelepipedal shape is to be avoided, since theparallelogrammatic sides and ends o f a unit of such shape would have tobe stlffened by diagonal bracing, and such bracing could not be used, atleast in the side walls, without necessarily intersecting some of thepotential doorway areas, and would be objectionable for this reason.

The problem is solved by making the roof and end wall assembly 5substantially in the form of an arch, as shown, of uniform widthinasmuch as the side walls 3 and 4 must be vertical, and transverselyrigid. The downwardly oppositedly sloping ends 1 of the assembly 5 whichconstitute the end walls of the room unit, in themselves form inclinedbracing, preventing distortion of the shape of the unit in alongitudinal direction. They also prevent distortion in a transversedirection, as will readily be understood from Figure 2, in which thelines a, b and c, d represent the end elements of spaced parallelvertical parallelogrammatic cross-sections intersecting the sloping endsI of the roof and end wall assembly 5. These parallelograms being ofdilerent height, the end elements, a, b and c, d would have to swingthrough arcs of different length, which ls impossible since saidcross-sections are bridged by the transversely rigid assembly 5 whichcannot warp or twist, particularly if it is of monocoque construction.

The iioor frame assembly 2, as shown, comprises the longitudinal metalchannel bars I8 and I9 secured to the transverse channel bars 20. Theside and end walls of the unit are supported in the outwardly facingperipherally disposed angle irons 2|. The longitudinal wooden stringersI4 alternate with the channel bars I8 and I9 in supporting the flooring8.

In assembling the house, the units are set upon a suitable foundation22, and accessory structures such as the windows 23, steps 24, and shedroof 25 may be added.

The adjacent side and top edges of the registering doorways I5 arepreferably boxed in by the jamb members 26 and style 21 with the trim 28forming flanges which embrace the edges of the doorways.

A weather canopy l2li is provided, overlying more or less of thejuncture between juxtapositioned units and particularly over theregistering doorways as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 4. This canopy, asshown, comprises an integral member of ,sheet metal consisting of theroof portion having oppositely sloping walls 30 and 3| and bent to forma downwardly extending web 32 beneath said roof portion, which webextends in the crack between the juxtapositioned units and supports thecanopy in xed position,

Figures 6 and '7 show alternate construction which may be common to boththe side walls and the roof and end wall assembly.

In Figure 6 the wall skin 33 is of plastic or other moldable material,and is cast integrally with the framing 34, the latter constituting ribson the inner side of the wall skin.

In Figure 'l the wall skin 35 is of deformable material, such as sheetmetal with the framing ribs integrally embossed on one side thereof. Inboth of these constructions the framing or ribs and the wall skinmutually reinforce one another against distortion in all directions andare examples ofmonocoque construction which may be readily substitutedfor the integrally glued side Wall and roof and end wall assemblyconstruction illustrated in the first described form of the bodiment ofthe invention, it will be understood to those skilled in the art thatthe specic details of construction and the arrangement of parts asshownand described are by way of example and not to be construed aslimiting the scope of the invention which is expressed inthe appendedclaims.Y

What I claim as my invention is:

1. House of similar prefabricated communicating room units, each unithaving vertical side walls including framing consisting of a pluralityof vertical studs uniformly spaced, common horizontal head and footstrips secured respectively adjacent the upper and lower ends to saidstuds, common horizontal spaced window strips secured to said studsintermediately, a rigid skin covering said framing and secured insurface adhesion to the adjacent surfaces of said studs and strips, anyof the panels defined by adjacent of said studs and the bridging partsof said head and foot strips being convertible into doorways, and any ofthe panels defined by adjacent of said studs and the bridging portionsof said window strips being selectively convertible into windowopenings, by cutting out the skin covering the selected panel, saidunits being placed together and secured, said side wall beingcharacterized by the absence of diagonal bracing in said convertiblepanels with adjacent side walls substantially in a common plane and witha selected doorway of one in registry with a selected doorway ofanother.

2. Prefabricated room unit having vertical side walls including framingconsisting of a plurality of vertical studs uniformly spaced, commonhorizontal head and foot strips respectively adjacent the upper andlower ends of said studs and secured thereto, common horizontal spacedwindow strips secured to said studs intermediately, a. rigid skincovering said frame and secured in surface adhesion to the adjacentsurfaces of said studs and strips, any of the panels defined by adjacentof said studs and the bridging portions of said head and foot stripsbeing convertible

